1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a door locking apparatus and more particularly to such an apparatus for vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, the noise produced upon door closing is offensive to the ear so that it has become necessary to avoid such noise. The noise results from the fact that latch, pawl and striker members are made of a metal so that a metallic noise is produced by the metallic contact among them, with the impact noise upon contacting the pawl member by the rotation of the latch member being much larger than the noise upon contacting the latch member with the striker member.
A door locking apparatus according to the present invention comprises an engaging groove at an engaging portion of a pawl member and a latch member, and a shock absorbing member, having a predetermined flexibility, fixedly inserted into the engaging groove, an outer surface of the shock absorbing member being deformably urged to thereby absorb the impact force produced upon striking of the pawl member by the rotation of the latch member and preventing dislocation of the shock absorbing member from the pawl member.